HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SOCCER: Hightstown goes down in double-overtime to Colts Neck

By RICH FISHER, For The Trentonian

Sunday, November 11, 2012

MARLBORO — When soccer teams outplay a team and lose it’s called unlucky.

When they battle a talented side on even terms and lose, it’s called coming up short in a well-played game.

Either way, it stinks. But the fifth-seeded Hightstown High boys had to endure the latter yesterday at the Marlboro Township Municipal Complex, dropping a 1-0 decision in double-overtime to fourth-seeded Colts Neck in an NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III quarterfinal.

That propels the Cougars to top-seeded Allentown for what should be an entertaining semifinal match-up.

“We knew they knocked the ball around well,” Rams coach Tim “The Mastermind” Kalick said. “They’re a good team. They didn’t get here for no reason. They knocked the ball well, we put pressure on them. I thought the game was played evenly the whole way through.

“Other than the outcome, it was a great game. It was back and forth between two quality teams. He (coach Art Collier) put together a good squad. What can you say?”

Not much, as Colts Neck junior Dominick Ricci said the same thing after scoring the game’s lone goal with 4:59 remaining in the second OT.

“They were a great team,” Ricci said. “They came out flying like we did. Number 44 (Mohamed Sesay) is a great player. It was just a great game overall.”

Sesay nearly gave Hightstown (15-4-1) the lead 15 minutes into play when he made a slick move past a defender and launched a rocket that goalie Dave Reingold made a brilliant reaction save on.

Jason Tonelli then sent one through to Joe Martinho but Rams keeper Jake Reyes charged out to defuse the situation after Martinho got a touch on the ball.

That’s the way it would go throughout the game.

Sesay, who finished his lone season at Hightstown with 37 goals, had a partial breakaway on which he chipped the ball wide, then blasted one from the right side that went wide left.

“It didn’t seem like they were really keying on him,” Kalick said. “He was getting free and getting loose. His talent can handle that, he just didn’t finish on the early opportunities he had, which is unfortunate for him, he rarely misses like that.”

In the second half, each goalie took turns keeping the clean sheet intact with some excellent saves. Hightstown’s best chance in the first OT came with Sesay on the ground in pain, as Jason Aguilar took a pass from Walter Barreto and rifled a shot that was just tipped over the goal.

In the second OT, Colts Neck (13-3-3) had most of the play and took two quick shots. By that point Sesay was wearing down as the Cougars marked him with their third different player.

“We wanted to keep guys fresh against him,” Ciccarone said.

With Colts Neck still on the attack, Ciccarone looked pretty fresh himself. He took a pass on the left flank, slipped around one defender and tallied his second goal of the year after Reyes committed.

“When the ball was played to me, it looked like from the side a guy was coming at me,” Ciccarone said. “I just looked up, saw the goalie dive down so that’s when I kind of curved it in.”

And he ended the season for Hightstown, which can at least take pride in the fact it went out on a strong effort.

No matter how much it stinks. Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores and on fish4scores.com.